Daily Briefs

 Law expert to speak March 31 at Wayne Law about alleged UN human rights violations

Human rights law expert Christine Chinkin will present a lecture Monday, March 31, at Wayne State University Law School about alleged human rights violations by the United Nations interim administration in Kosovo.

The lecture, “An Experiment in United Nations Accountability: The Kosovo Human Rights Advisory Panel,” is set for 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium at Wayne Law, 471 W. Palmer St. The event is free and open to the public, and lunch will be provided. RSVP to international.law@wayne.edu. 
 
The lecture is presented by Wayne Law’s Program for International Legal Studies.

Chinkin is a professor of international law at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a barrister. She has been a member of the Kosovo Human Rights Advisory Panel since 2010, and in that connection, also carries out research on the application of human rights standards by UN missions. The panel was established in 2006 to investigate individual complaints of alleged human rights violations committed by or attributable to the UN interim administration in Kosovo. 
 

Debt collector prevails in lawsuit over words 

DETROIT (AP) — Is there a difference between the words “of” and “after?” A federal court says no, at least not in a dispute between a Detroit man and a debt collector.
 
Carl Wallace sued Diversified Consultants. He accused the company of violating a federal law because of the wording of a debt notice related to a $2,000 phone bill.

Wallace was asked to respond within 30 days “of” receiving a notice. But the law covering debt collections says people have 30 days to respond “after” getting a notice.

So what? Indeed, that’s what an appeals court said Wednesday in affirming the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit in Detroit federal court. The court doubts that anyone who got the letter was confused.
Attorney Brian Parker of Bingham Farms was seeking thousands of dollars.
 

Judge reprimanded in case of cursing woman 

NILES, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court has reprimanded a judge whose high bond forced a woman to jail for 10 days for cursing in a courthouse.
 
The court says Berrien County Judge Dennis Wiley agreed to the censure for committing misconduct in December 2012.

Wiley took action against LaRue Ford solely on his own after overhearing court employees in Niles talk about her tart tongue. Ford was upset over fines and a hold on her driver’s license.

Wiley accused Ford of contempt of court, although he didn’t witness her behavior. She spent a night in jail. Two weeks later, Wiley raised her bond to $5,000, and Ford spent another 10 days in jail, including Christmas.
Another Berrien County judge released Ford when the American Civil Liberties Union intervened.

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